Finishing 32nd out of 36 states in the President's Race to the Top funding program signals Washington has lots of work ahead. Our application simple fell short.
The winners in this second and final round announced by the U.S. Department of Education were the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island. They join first-round winners Delaware and Tennessee.
Washington’s application request was for $250 million in federal funding—the maximum amount the state is able to receive, but it was rejected. One of the reasons, our state does not allow for charter schools. Another, the legislature failed to stiffen our academic testing requirements.
According to the Partnership for Learning: "Though Washington leaders will not know how the state scored on Race to the Top until September, the message is clear: Our state has a long way to go to ensure the success of every student and our state’s “business as usual” approach simply doesn’t meet the high bar for reform set by the federal government."
A top-to-bottom look at our state's education system is on the agenda for the Association of Washington Business' Annual Policy Summit on Sept. 21-23 at the Resort at Semiahmoo near Blaine. Caroline King, executive director of the Partnership, will moderate the panel discussion. The panel includes Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel, superintendent of Renton schools, and Dr. Marguerite Roza, UW Center for Reinventing Public Education.
The Summit is open to all Association of Washington Business members in good standing.
